Although being indexed well on the major search engines is the number one thing you can do to promote your site inexpensively, there are other effective ways.
Banner ads: You see them all over the Net. Average response rate is reported to be about 1-3% click through for each banner displayed. Rates can vary though from zero to 17% or higher. They can be cost effective if you use an eye-catching design and slogan and you TARGET your message. Try to advertise on sites that are related to your target audience. Most of the search engines now let you display banners based on the keyword the user is searching on!
If your budget is tight, however, consider a free banner exchange service such as www.linkexchange.com. For every two banner impressions you allow to be displayed on your site, they will display your banner on another site for free. It's all automated and can increase your traffic at zero cost. However, there are drawbacks such as the risk of losing your own customers prematurely who chase after someone else's advertisement. Also, banners can increase the load time of your page somewhat. Still, it's an effective way to help increase your traffic if you're on a tight budget.
Offer something for free: This one is used all over the Net and can work well if you have a related product to the product/service you offer for free. However, it doesn't matter what you have for free, if people still don't know about it, you'll have a hard time increasing traffic based solely on this strategy. (Unless you're giving away free TV sets or something). Combine this technique with another to be effective. Also, don't give away too much so that you fail to convert many to sales. Many make this mistake and are never able to turn a profit.
Because so many things are "FREE" on the Internet, you must work harder on your Web page's content and design to add a perceived value to your product/service. Otherwise, you'll have people leaving thinking they might be able to find the same thing for free somewhere else.
Newsgroups: Frequent newsgroups that your target audience would participate in. Leave helpful messages and sign your message with a tag line describing your Web site, product or services. Be careful to not sound like a blatant sales pitch or you'll violate the rules of many newsgroups.
E-mail: E-mail is a powerful sales tool but you should avoid sending unsolicited and untargetted e-mails. You'll get far more hostile and negative responses than positive responses. Use e-mail for follow up and where they've asked to be on a list or to receive certain types of information. You should not share the names on your mailing list without first informing your list participants of this possibility or getting their permission.
Newsletters: If you have good writing skills, write a free newsletter about the subject area you are targeting and send it by e-mail to subscribers. These newsletters are popularly called e-zines. Make the content fresh and interesting and you can build a large following in no time.
Cross-linking: Find sites that will attract the type of visitors you're looking for on your own site. If you're not a direct competitor, you could e-mail the Webmaster of those related sites and ask them if they'll add a link to your site if you add a link to theirs. Larger sites may want a fee for doing this. However, successfully negotiating a link from another site can do wonders for improving quality traffic to your own site.
Content: Don't forget to put in at least as much effort into the actual content and design of your site as you do in the promotion. Otherwise, you may get people to your site but few will take advantage of your product or service. If your content is dynamic or is re-usable in some way, it can work to draw visitors back to the site later. However, this doesn't happen as often as you'd think, so always try and capture the user's name in order to follow up with a friendly e-mail or special offer later if possible.
If you're selling something, most of the elements of a good direct mail package will also apply to the text of a Web site such as:
1. Make it easy to contact you in whatever way they choose.
2. Revise and proof read your text many times to make it easy to read, persuasive, and free from typos.
3. Avoid too much "hype" since most on the Internet (and elsewhere) will see it for what it is. However, never make your copy too dry and boring either!
4. Don't forget to ask for the sale or to encourage them to click on the order form.
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